Daily Aspirin Use May Double Seniors’ Risk Of Wet AMD.

HealthDay (1/6, Mozes) reports, “Daily aspirin use among seniors may double their risk of developing” the “wet” form of “age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a significant cause of blindness in seniors,” according to a study published in the January issue of the journal Ophthalmology. In fact, “daily aspirin use was associated with the onset of late-stage” wet AMD, “and to a lesser degree, the onset of early ‘dry’ AMD — even after the researchers took into account age and a history of heart disease, which in itself is a risk factor for AMD.”

Medscape (1/6, Keller) explains, “More frequent aspirin use was associated with higher grades of AMD. One third of the individuals with wet AMD consumed aspirin daily compared with only 16% of control participants.” Medscape adds, “Limitations of the study include its cross-sectional and retrospective nature, with the possibility of recall error about aspirin use and possible confounders,” such as the fact that aspirin is found in many over-the-counter drugs that study participants might not have recognized as containing it. “In addition, there were no data on the doses of aspirin or the use of other antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs” taken by study participants.